Concerns over stubbornly low inflation and weak global growth had undermined expectations for a mid-year liftoff. Fed Chair Janet Yellen has said the policy-making Federal Open Market Committee would have to be "reasonably confident" that inflation will move back toward the bank's 2 percent target before a rate increase.

The Fed's preferred measure of inflation rose 0.7 percent in December from a year earlier, driven down by a plunge in oil prices. It has not been above the central bank's goal since March 2012.

Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser, who dissented at the December FOMC meeting because he considered that the statement did not sufficiently acknowledge the progress made by the economy, said the jobs data delivered "very good numbers."

"We need to be thinking about moving off the zero bound," he told CNBC in an interview. "Our ability to raise rates gradually would be greater if we started sooner."

June Rise

Michael Gapen, chief U.S. economist at Barclays Plc in New York, said the employment figures reinforce his call for a rate increase in June.

"This is a very solid report," he said. "It would feed their inclination to say things are pretty robust, we got it going in the right direction and zero is not the right rate."

The jobs report also revised December gains up to 329,000 from 252,000.

UBS AG Chief Economist Maury Harris advised clients in a note, "Don't be out of the office June 17," referring to the date of that month's scheduled FOMC meeting.

"With other measures of wages pointing towards normal wage gains, the data today will only serve to boost the Fed's confidence that they are reading the labor market correctly," Harris said.